Thursday, September 15, 2011

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of seeing my name in print! That's why I'm so pumped to announce that an article I wrote is appearing in StudentAdvisor's Freshman Year: Survive & Thrive guide. I wrote about alcohol, and tried to poke fun at the awkward (or absent) alcohol talks that parents have with their first-year students - while at the same time providing the kind of information I would include in just such a talk (very sneaky).

The original title was "That Awkward Alcohol Talk: It's All About Plane Crashes" but it got changed to "Beer Pong is a Tool of the Devil?" in the actual publication. The new title is very eye-catching because beer pong and devil are definitely two loaded terms, and refers to the exaggerated perspective of an abstinence-only parent that I mention in the opening paragraph.

Now that I think about it, there are some potential concerns about releasing an article with "it's all about plane crashes" in the title in the same week as the 10th anniversary of 9/11... so yeah, probably for the best!

Has it happened yet? If not, you’re in for a real treat. I’m talking about that awkward alcohol talk between you and your parents that is bound to happen sometime before or during your first year in college. The talks are usually quite short, and come in different styles ranging from the vague, “be responsible, honey,” to threats of corporal punishment, “I’ll beat the living daylights out of you," and even appeals to a higher power: “beer pong is a tool of the devil!”

I really like how the StudentAdvisor guide includes diagrams of the different alcohol serving sizes, and highlighted the top 4 risk-reduction techniques in a nice table. The stats and survey come from the Fall 2010 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA - NCHA II), which is linked directly from the electronic guide.

I just did an interview with the BG News yesterday morning on the topic of Wine vs. Beer, which I hope will illustrate the differences in alcohol concentrations, among other things.